Sewing thread for elastic fabrics



April 2, 1946.

A. R. BELL SEWING THREAD FOR ELASTIC FABRICS Filed Jan. 29, 1944 O ,agggag f y wwfiww Patented- Apr. 2, 1946 and twenty-five per cent to Albert J. Miller, Bala-Cynwyd, Pa.

Application January. 29, 1944, Serial No. 520,305

1 Claim. (of. 28-78) tw nty-ilve per cent oi hiladelnhia, Pa..

This invention relates to elastic garments; such as surgical hosiery, arm and leg bands, etc. wherein the garment is formed of knitted fabric composed of a rubber covered thread, i. e. a thread or yarn consisting of a rubber core strand or filament spirally wound with a cotton, silk, rayon or 7 other suitable covering thread of a relatively inelastic character per se. i

In order to eliminate the possibilities of the knitted fabric raveling at the terminal edges of the garment, it is customary to weave an elastic thread through the terminal courses of the knitted i es. manually, or to fold the fabric upon itself andstitch the flap to the underlying body fabric with an elastic thread.

It is highly essential in either case, that the thread employed have a degree of elasticity at least as great as theiabric, in order to afford maximum elasticity of the garment at its terminal edges.

The hand method of finishing the terminal edges of garments of this kind is obviously too costly to permit the garments being economically produced; and the elimination of the hand method heretofore has required the use of special machines for handling the elastic sewing thread employed to make'the turned hems on the gar ments. The object of the present invention is to provide a new kind of sewing thread, for hemming elastic garments, which can be used in an ordinary sewing machine of either the chain stitch p using a single thread, or a lock stitch type employing a bobbin thread in addition to the needle thread.

The construction. of the thread forming the subject matter of the present invention, and the method employed for utilizing it in elastic garments so as to preserve the full range of elasticity of the garment along its terminal edges will be fully disclosed hereinafter. reference being had to the accompanying drawing of which:

Fig. 1 diagrammatically illustrates an elastic stocking wherein the thread of the present invention is employed to'form hems at the opposite ends {respectively thereof;

I Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken on the line 2--2, Fig. 1; and

Fig. 3 is a greatly magnified view of the sewing thread-per se.

As shown in Figs. 1 an 2, the particular garment chosen for the purpose of illustrating the present invention is in the formof a surgical stocking A. composed of knitted two-way-stretch fabric normally used in this type of article.

the leg portion of the stocking and at the bottom of the foot portion thereof. The hem a is formed,

I in each instance, by securing the turned-over portion of the fabric to the underlying body fabric, by use of a row of stitches aI.

The rows of stitches aI, al, are formed by. a sewing thread I, shown as being greatly magnified in Fig. 3. The sewingthread I comprises a continuous elastic strand or core filament 2 composed of rubber, natural or synthetic, extruded or cut,

in a completely relaxed contracted condition longitudinally; a paralleling inelastic fibrous thread 3 of cotton, linen, etc., in a normal state of flaccidity; and a covering thread l of cotton, silk, rayon, etc. wound in laterally abutting spiral convolutions 5, 5 around and encasing the elastic core strand 2 and the relatively inelastic paralleling core strand 3'.

The hems a. a are turned and sewn while the fabric is in a smooth relaxed state and the rows of stitches aI, al are formed with the sewing thread I under tension such as would be normally applied to a sewing thread being used in a sewing machine. 7

During the sewing operation the relatively inelastic core thread 3 takes all the tension applied to-the sewing thread I as a whole, leaving the elastic core thread 2 in its completely relaxed state during the entire sewing operation. Thus the elastic strand in no way hinders the normal functioning of the sewing thread during the sewing operation.

After the rows of stitches al, al have been completed with the fabric in a normal relaxed state,

the fabric is expanded or stretched in the longicore thread 3 had never been present in the sewing thread I.

While the foregoing description refers to the sewing thread I as being used in a sewing machine, obviously the thread I can be used for hand sewing, and the inelastic core strand 3 may be broken, as described, toafford subsequent un-' 2 in the sewn seam.

I claim: An article composed at least in part of elastic fabric and having adjacent elastic fabric Darts joinedtpaetherat a suture iormedbya row of stitches formed by at least one composite 'sewing thread comprising a substantially rectilinear longitudinally relaxed elastic core strand, a sub-' stantially' rectilinear relatively inelastic core strand adjacently paralleling said elastic corerestricted functioning of the elastic core strand strand, and a longitudinally extensible and retractible covering encasing and binding said core strands together'to complete said thread. said inelastic strand being adaptedto break under longitudinal tension applied to said thread in excess of the normal elastic limit of said inelastic strand by stretching the'said elastic fabric parts longitudlnally of the suture formed therebetwen bysald composite thread.

ARTHUR R. BELL. 

